Scammers Use Fake ‘Wounded Veterans’ in Emotional AI Ads to Sell Cheap Patriotic Products

Emotional videos of wounded military veterans selling handmade patriotic keepsakes are drawing in sympathetic buyers online, but a new report says some of those veterans are not even real.

The BBC reported on Friday, September 25, that a new scam is using AI-generated videos of supposed military veterans to sell patriotic merchandise on TikTok, Facebook and other social media platforms.

In a few of those Facebook ads, users can see injured British veterans promoting items including wooden flags, bags, cutting boards, and wreaths.

According to the New York Post, the products were inexpensive goods shipped from China, not authentic handmade items.

British Army veteran Raymond Gilbert told the BBC that he paid $200 for what he believed was a “handmade wooden flag” made by a disabled former serviceman. But what arrived was far different, he said.

When he finally received the package, Gilbert said it was covered in Chinese writing, and the “handmade” flag inside was really a printed image glued to a slab of plywood.

“They’re despicable,” Gilbert told the BBC. “Using our disabled Army veterans is abhorrent — preying on our heartstrings to help these people out — is a despicable thing to do,” he added.

Gilbert said he made the purchase after seeing the emotional ad on TikTok.

Similar promotions have appeared across Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, according to the BBC. To make the ad more emotional, some AI-generated posts use captions claiming the depicted veterans were abandoned or rejected after military service.

A TikTok ad included the line, “I will NEVER buy a wooden flag from a person that looks like you.”

Technology expert Will Guyatt told the BBC that videos like these can be produced in minutes, and creators can instruct AI tools to make the content more emotionally charged.

Removing the advertisements can also prove difficult because sellers can create new accounts after previous ones are taken down, he added.

TikTok said it took down all 45 accounts the BBC flagged as part of its investigation.

“We enforce strict rules against harmfully misleading AI-generated content and scams, and we have removed the violative content and accounts shared with us.

The statement continued, “We continue to strengthen our safety strategies while also empowering our community with resources on how to navigate AI-generated content and how to spot and report potential scams.”